Wednesday, October 12, 2016

A beautiful post-hurricane day

Nature Center

Sunday was Nicolas’ last full day to spend with us, since he had gotten word that the base was re-opened.  He didn’t have to work until Wednesday, but his chief was having his crew muster on Tuesday afternoon so Nicolas wanted to get back and make sure everything was OK at his apartment by Monday evening.

So, once we had the motorhome moved onto our new site, he wanted to get out and do something.  I found the Anne Springs Close Greenway, in nearby Fort Mill, where they had a couple of nature trails, some historic buildings, and they were supposed to be having fall harvest activities, including a pumpkin patch.

When we arrived, we found out that, although the park and trails were open, the fall harvest activities had been cancelled for the weekend due to all the rain on Saturday.  Oh well, we’ll do a little hiking . . .

Blue Star Trail

We set out on the Blue Star trail, which was a short trail (less than a mile) that would take us to the swinging bridge, a couple of historic log cabins, and the Dairy Barn.

Nick & Grandpa enjoying the beautiful day

It was a beautiful afternoon for a walk in the woods.

We reached the stream, and after all the rain it was flowing pretty good.  Tom and Nicolas decided to walk right through it,

That's one way to get across the stream

but Dad and I opted for the bridge – it seemed like the safer option!

And this is the other!

It was definitely a swinging bridge, and had a lot of bounce to it,

I think this is the better way to go!

Tom and Nick are waiting on the other side

but Dad made it across, and I did, too!  There were some kids having a blast running across the bridge, but they waited for us to get all the way across first.  We were grateful for that!

He made it!

After the bridge, the trail took us between two pastures,

The trail takes us past a pasture

where there were horses grazing.

DSC_0037

DSC_0038

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We passed by the Graham Cabin,

Log Cabin across the stream

Graham Cabin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and reached the Dairy Barn at the end of the trail.

Dairy Barn

We couldn’t see the inside of Dairy Barn because there was some type of private event going on, but we sat outside and rested for a little bit.

Taking a break

Dad wasn’t quite feeling up to the walk back, so he stayed at the Dairy Barn with Nicolas while Tom and I walked back to the car and drove around to pick them up.

On the way back, we walked past the other log cabin on top of the hill,

DSC_0049

Another Log Cabin

and when we reached the pasture, there was a horse there looking for some attention.

DSC_0058

We stopped to visit for a few minutes,

This guy liked the attention

DSC_0059

 

before continuing on to the bridge.  Tom decided to keep his feet dry this time!

Going back over the swinging bridge

We got the car, and drove around to the Dairy Barn entrance to pickup Nick and Grandpa.  From the Anne Springs Close Greenway, we drove into the little town of Fort Mill.  I was looking for a meat store that had popped up on facebook that was having a sale this weekend, but I couldn’t remember the name of it, and we didn’t see a meat store anywhere, and  . . . I couldn’t find it on facebook again!  Oh well!

Puckerbutt's Pepper Store

 

We did find the Puckerbutt Pepper Store, where Tom bought some salsa (from Brighton, MI!), and I bought some carolina reaper chili powder.  Nicolas wants to make a batch of chili, and spice it up a little.  The guy in the store said that about a 1/4 teaspoon would add a good amount of heat to a crock pot full of chili!  That’s hot!

Carolina Reapers are supposed to be the hottest peppers in the world!

Carolina Reapers

Back in Rock Hill, there was supposed to be a Car Show at the seafood restaurant down the road from the campground.  Nicolas had spotted the sign earlier in the week, so we planned to have dinner there and look at the cars afterward.

It was just a small car show, but had a few nice ones.  Mustangs were definitely the most popular model.

Red, White & Blue . . . Mustangs

Nicolas is always drawn to the Mustangs, and this time was no exception.

Nicolas liked the red one!

OK, he REALLY likes this one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were others that drew their interest, too,

DSC_0086

Checkin' under the hood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and some that were just pretty!

DSC_0094

Nice truck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DSC_0095

Camaro

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once they all had their fill of drooling over cars, we went back to the campground to rescue Casey.  We took her for a walk down by the lake – it was a beautiful evening.  She really wanted to get in the water!

Casey wanted to get in the water

It’s hard to believe that just 24 hours before, we were still getting the remnants of a hurricane!

DSC_0101

The lake was beautiful that night!

Lake Wylie

Houses on the lake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sunset was even more beautiful for Nicolas’ last night!

Almost sunset

Sunset_October 9th

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunset_October 9th

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading! We'd love to hear your comments!